


Avatar Pool Cleaning Services: We know pools.

by iippo



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 19:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20551607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iippo/pseuds/iippo
Summary: Aang's got the hang of this chakra stuff.





	1. Penzai

**Author's Note:**

> Set on Ember Island, before going to see the play.

Zuko was doing Dancing Dragon exercises in his room when Katara stormed in. He startled and by instinct took a defensive stance. Katara stopped in her tracks, and with a sheepish expression said "I'm sorry, I should have knocked."

Zuko relaxed but only by a fraction. Katara intimidated him and he didn't know what to do around her. Even though she had forgiven him, he hadn't forgiven himself. She had been so kind and understanding in Ba Sing Se and he had thrown it in her face. It felt like he had ruined his chance of ever being sincere with her. 

"So, uhh... I bet you're wondering why I'm here..." Katara started when Zuko said nothing for a while - he was such a strange boy, she couldn't figure him out. She took a deep breath and said: "I came to apologise to you."

"Why?" Zuko's mouth blurted out a fair bit more sharply than he intended before he had a chance to stop it. 

It was Katara's turn to tense up for a moment - for so long Zuko's voice had meant imminent attack and body memory is hard to forget - but she forced herself to relax, to be ready for anything. 

"I wanted to apologise for the things I said when you joined us - it was mean and aggressive and I shouldn't have..." She trailed off seeing Zuko's face - he looked completely bamboozled. "What?" She said, feeling kind of self-conscious. 

"Why would you apologise for that?" Zuko asked, sincerely confused by the whole situation, feeling defensive. "You had no reason to trust me. I've done so many horrible things to you and your friends and family - and you're apologising to me for trying to protect yourself?"

Katara worried Zuko's face would implode somehow, he was tensing every muscle trying to control his expression and emotions. 

"I... It's..." She stammered for a moment, trying to figure out what to say, feeling the sassy response bubble inside but then deciding against it and instead to just be honest. 

She sat down on the floor, with her legs crossed. He followed her example, sitting down with his knees against his chest and arms wrapped around his legs. 

"I was practising water bending earlier and I felt a little... blocked. In my energy. And I realised that I was feeling guilty about threatening you. I realised I could have ruined everything for the whole world if you had decided to leave and not teach Aang fire bending after all. I could have ruined our entire mission just because I couldn't control my feelings. So I had to come and try to do something to make it right." 

Zuko stared at her, stunned. 

After a long silence Katara shifted uncomfortably and said "So. Umm..."

"You are very wise." Zuko blurted out. 

Katara felt shy but pleased about the compliment. "Oh, well I'm just-" 

"I didn't understand until recently how important wisdom is. And how often it can look like foolishness." Zuko mused out loud, still staring at Katara with his usual hawk-like expression as if he was seeing her for the first time. 

Katara quirked her eyebrow. "Foolishness?"

Zuko was unflinching. "Apologising to someone who doesn't deserve it looks like foolishness. Thanking someone who treats you like dirt looks like foolishness. But you know that the only thing that matters is your own integrity - not what other people think, not what it looks like from the outside. Knowing that you did the right thing. Even by someone who is nothing but dirt."

Katara's face fell into an expression of concern. 

"Zuko..."

He turned his head to avoid her gaze, exposing the scarred side of his face to her. 

Katara scooted closer. "Do you feel like you are... dirt?" She asked softly and put her hand on his shoulder. 

Zuko's expression tightened even more; she hadn't thought that was even possible. But he didn't flinch or slap her hand away. She could feel he was all nerves and tight muscles. Her healer instincts put the next words in her mouth. 

"You need to relax Zuko," she told him a tad more authoritatively than she meant. 

Even through his emotional turmoil, he grinned a little, and said: "You sound like my uncle."

"I've met your uncle - I choose to take that as a compliment." Katara said and tossed her hair back. 

"It is." Zuko smiled, and thought about uncle Iroh. But thinking about uncle Iroh - and particularly how he had treated his uncle during their travel together - made his dark cloud return.

"I felt that," Katara said, her eyes wide. "Like a huge boulder sat on you-" she moved her hand along his bare back and stopped at the area of the water chakra "right here." 

Zuko was afraid to move or say anything. Katara's gentle touch on his back felt so nice he couldn't remember the last time anyone had touched him with such gentleness. Not since his mother disappeared. 

Katara felt the shift in Zuko's chi at the thought of his mother, and moved her hand up his back and rested it between his shoulder blades, at the heart chakra. "Here too, there is something really heavy."

Something snapped. The tension holding Zuko together melted away in an instant. He started to cry the same moment his entire body stopped holding itself together and he flopped to the floor. He fell away from under Katara's hand, into a sobbing pile on the floor, burying his face in his arms.

Katara opened her water skin. She covered her hands with the healing liquid and touched the crying boy's back again, checking his chakras. With the water she could feel his energy trying to find a path but it was all convoluted and twisted from years of blockages. 

"Katara!?" 

She was so surprised by Aang shouting her name that Katara accidentally dropped the water she was bending, soaking Zuko from head to toe. Zuko, startled by the sound and the splash, sat up, water gluing his hair over his eyes, tears still streaking his face. They both looked at Aang like they'd been caught red-handed. 

"What's going on?" Aang asked. He could tell _something_ was going on, but he couldn't figure out if Zuko and Katara had been fighting or... or... or kissing. And he didn't like either option. 

Fortunately Katara knew how to think on her feet. "Aang! Just the person we need! Come here!"

Zuko turned to look at Katara, still looking guilty and surprised. 

Aang stepped over, asking "What is it?"

"Guru Pathik taught you about chakras, right? They are what the chi flows through, isn't it? Zuko's chi feels all..." Katara waved her hands to indicate convoluted knots. 

"Why were you feeling Zuko's chi?" Aang asked, frowning. Zuko flopped back down to the floor, embarrassed, and covered his face with his hands. 

Katara water bended Zuko dry and put the water back in her water skin. "What are you talking about? We need him and he can't fire bend very effectively if his energy is all clogged up."

"I don't think I've ever had energy that wasn't clogged up," Zuko mumbled from under his hands. 

"And he's been able to fire bend his whole life just fine," Aang added, hoping to end the situation and take Katara away from Zuko's room. 

Aang didn't notice what the feeling he was being motivated by was, but Katara did. She stared at Aang sharply and tapped her foot. "Sit down," she said coldly. Aang - wisely enough - did as he was told. 

"Aang, repeat what the guru told you about chakras," Katara commanded. "Sit up," she added and poked Zuko, who also did as he was told. 

"Guru Pathik compared chakras to a stream with several pools of water. Water in streams can get blocked up and stopped from flowing by debris, and our chi can similarly get blocked by negative feelings - with different feelings corresponding to the different chakras which are like pools of energy," Aang explained. 

"Hmm." Katara thought for a moment. "That explains why water benders can heal - chi is similar enough to water that we can feel the flow and help it along," she mused. "But more importantly: flowing water will forge its own path wherever it can. Water can eat away rock, it can fall from great heights and regroup to continue on its way. Zuko's chi is flowing - just not along the usual paths. It's like it has had to forge its own path to find alternative ways to get around his body." 

"Maybe that's just a Fire Nation thing," Aang pointed out hopefully, still wishing to end this strange situation. 

"It's not," Zuko said quietly, and the heaviness in his voice made Aang forget his insecurity of seeing Zuko near Katara, and understand that something was seriously bothering the young fire bender. Zuko continued gravely:

"Azula can bend lightning. I can't, even though I was taught how. The energy doesn't come out right, it just explodes in my face." 

Katara and Aang watched him carefully as Zuko spoke, afraid of killing the moment by as much as breathing the wrong way. 

"Azula's chi is fine. She has always lived according to her conscience - since she doesn't have one in the first place. Lies and hurt don't warp her energy; she is our father's perfect daughter. I take after my mother too much; I was never able to make my father proud so effortlessly as Azula does. What he wants from his son -- just doesn't come naturally to me. All my life I have fought against the current, feeling like a failure, a disappointment."

They were quiet for a moment, before Katara asked softly: "In Ba Sing Se" (Zuko covered his face with his hands at the mention of the city), "you said the Fire Nation took your mother away too." She gently pulled Zuko's hand to free his face. He took a deep breath. 

"My grandfather ordered her into exile. In exchange for my life. For something my father said out of turn. I don't know if she is still alive, or how to find her." Zuko smiled weakly. "You reminded me of her earlier, when you touched my shoulder." 

"Why does everyone say that mom-thing about me, I'm not--" Katara started but Aang motioned her to calm it. 

"This makes me think of Penzai trees," Aang said. 

Zuko and Katara looked at his quizzically. 

"A Penzai is just a regular tree, but it is forced to grow in a small pot, and pruned regularly to keep it from reaching its true height," Aang explained. "A Penzai is intentionally stunted for the benefit of the grower." 

Zuko stared at Aang frowning. "I haven't benefitted from stunting my chi!" He said angrily. 

Aang looked at him softly and put a hand on Zuko's scarred cheek. The fire bender's eyes widened with fear but Aang was unflinching. "You're not the grower," Aang said softly, looking him straight in the eye. "You're the tree." 

All three of them could feel tears welling in their eyes. "I'm so sorry for what was done to you," Aang whispered. "I feel like it's my fault. The world got so off balance while I was gone, that entire generations have lived lives of hurt and pain..."

Zuko put his hand on Aang's arm to keep the avatar's hand on his cheek. "We will bring the balance back together." Aang closed his eyes and let the tears fall freely. His heart chakra felt warm with the excess of love he felt for his fire bending master, his new friend. 


	2. Pool Hopping

"So what do I do about my chi?" Zuko asked after a moment, looking from Aang to Katara, who were both looking quizzically at the other. 

"Look, the guru led me through the chakra opening exercise once, I don't actually know anything about these things," Aang exclaimed in exasperation to Katara's unasked question. "It was all about avatar stuff, I'm pretty sure that won't help Zuko? You're the water bending healer master!" He tossed the responsibility back to Katara. 

Katara leaned her chin on her fist for a moment and pondered. 

"Well, I would recommend talking about your feelings first," Katara started. Aang stifled a giggle and Zuko groaned. "In fact I think we could all do with some emotional honesty around here," she added, giving a sharp look to Aang whose grin melted away. "I know it's hard, but processing your feelings with the people involved does help," Katara said and patted Zuko's arm. 

"I'm sure my father would be thrilled to have a little chat with me about my feelings," Zuko said gloomily. 

Katara looked uncomfortable, and quietly in his mind Aang thought "yikes." 

Katara cleared her throat. "Umm. Yes, let's just keep it between us for now." 

"I don't know where to start," Zuko said, feeling hopeless and deflated. 

They all pondered quietly, then Aang piped up: "We could go through the chakras together and use them to pinpoint where you have troubles."

Zuko looked at him with a determined expression and nodded, and Katara said excitedly: "Aang, that's a great idea!" She beamed at him and Aang blushed - he loved the feeling he got when Katara paid attention to him. 

"Okay," Zuko said, ready to start. "What should we do?"

"Let's sit down," Aang said and the boys settled into the Padmasana position. Katara was standing, unsure if she should leave and about to say bye when Aang said "you should sit too, Katara. We will need your help." Zuko looked at her expectantly too, so she sat, glad she could stay. 

"Close your eyes," Aang said to Zuko and he did so. "The first chakra is the earth chakra, at the base of your spine. It's about survival, and it's blocked by feelings of fear," Aang began. "Think about all the things you are afraid of."

Zuko felt hesitant, but much like one cannot stop thinking of a platypusbear when told to not think about a platypusbear, he couldn't _not_ immediately think of the Fire Lord. But then, as if rising in front of the Fire Lord's face, there was Azula. Zuko realised that as much as his father the Fire Lord had always been a terrifying force in his life, his position as ruler had by necessity kept him a distant threat. But Azula had always been there, and all his life Zuko had wanted nothing more than Azula's approval; to turn her cruelty into acceptance. The thought of fighting Azula terrified him, not just because of the prospect of losing to her, but also the prospect of her being mad at him for doing it. He tried to explain to himself that Azula was already mad at him, but the feeling was much too primordial: being the cause of Azula's wrath was the worst thing he could imagine.

Aang and Katara were observing Zuko's face as he went through the thought process. He scrunched his eyes shut tighter and tighter and when he began trembling and breathing quite heavily, Katara put her water-covered hand on his back to figure out what was going on in there. Zuko flinched and opened his eyes. 

"And now let your fears flow down the creek," Aang said a little too cheerfully for the occasion. Zuko wrinkled his forehead in disbelief. Aang shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "Sorry, that's what the guru told me to do, I don't really know..." Katara kept moving the water along Zuko's back, but looked at Aang with exasperation. Sometimes she forgot how young he really was.

"I think I would need to talk to uncle Iroh about it sometime..." Zuko mused. Somehow, having identified Azula as the terror of his entire life did help. Katara could feel something shifting in his earth chakra. "But for now, we could move to the next chakra," Zuko added, looking from Aang to Katara. Katara nodded.

"That would be the water chakra," Aang continued. "It is the chakra of pleasure and it is blocked by guilt." Zuko groaned in exasperation: "We'll be here all day if I have to think about all the things I feel guilty about!" Katara had shifted her hands to rest on Zuko's water chakra, feeling the turmoil. 

"The more important thing is how you feel about yourself," Aang said, this time sounding very calming and mature. "You can't beat yourself up over things that have already happened. You have to forgive yourself in order to be able to move on. You can be a positive influence in the world." 

Zuko and Katara were both staring at Aang in awe; Katara even forgot to keep moving the water along Zuko's back and the water was slowly soaking into his shirt. Zuko nodded. "Okay. I... I do actually believe that. I can make things right by helping the avatar learn fire bending. The world will find balance, and I will have done my part to help it along," he mused out loud, letting his guilt flow down the river. 

Aang beamed. "Next up is the fire chakra, in your stomach," he continued. Katara moved the water up accordingly. "This is the chakra of willpower, and it is blocked by shame. Think of what you are ashamed of." 

The unscarred side of Zuko's face began to redden as he thought of the shameful things in his life. "I..." he tried to start, but the feeling was so strong that it was impossible to put to words. His whole life had been tied to his honour, and he realised how he had always been manipulated with the threat of shame by everyone around him. Everyone... except uncle Iroh. The thought of his uncle clarified the image of his shame in his minds eye: he was ashamed of the way he had treated Iroh like a fool. He was ashamed of the way he had not lived well like Iroh had tried to teach him. He realised that his quest for honour had been foolish from the beginning and had been set for him to shame him even more; the only thing that really mattered was making uncle Iroh proud. 

"Wow!" Katara exclaimed. "The energy literally jumped from one path to the correct one!" She kept the water on Zuko's back, feeling his chi. Aang and Zuko exchanged a smile. 

"Next chakra is located in the heart. It deals with love, and is blocked by grief," Aang said. Katara remembered feeling Zuko's heart chakra earlier, and, yep, there is was. The incredible weight that was the loss of his mother. "Zuko, I'm sure you can find her-" she started but was interrupted by Aang. 

"No. Don't think like that. Don't try to avoid the grief. Just lay it all in front of you. All that you've lost."

Zuko sat without saying a word, with quiet tears flowing down his face. Katara felt the weight on his chakra grow heavier. She was about to say something, but as she looked to Aang to address him, she saw that he was staring at her with his piercing thousand-year-old avatar eyes, forbidding her from speaking. 

"See the people you have lost in the air around you, and understand that their love for you is still in this world, in one form or another," Aang said, sounding like a real avatar. Zuko scrunched his eyes tight as if to squeeze out the remaining tears, and then opened his eyes and looked Aang directly in the eyes. He nodded, and Aang nodded back. 

Katara made a mental note of what had transpired. 

"Are you okay, shall we continue?" Aang asked. Zuko wiped his face and took a deep breath. And then another. "Let's keep going." 

"The fifth chakra is the sound chakra, located in your throat," Aang continued, and Katara bended her water around Zuko's neck, like a water scarf. For a brief moment Zuko felt incredibly vulnerable and realised how easily a skilled water bender can kill someone. 

"The sound chakra deals with truth and it is blocked by the lies we tell ourselves," Aang said. "It's about accepting who we are."

"Accepting... that I am of the fire nation, which has plunged the world into chaos and war, that I am the Fire Lord's son and will never know a genuine life with normal worries like... like owning a tea shop, or..." Zuko mumbled through gritted teeth, as if trying to force himself to accept the truth, trying to force the chakra open. 

Katara was struggling, Zuko's chi was splashing erratically and she tried to keep the water steady without strangling him. She was slowly losing the control, until it finally slipped out of reach and her water accidentally shot from her hands to the other side of the room. 

Neither Aang or Zuko remarked on her slip-up, so she got up without a word and crossed the room to fetch her water. The boys just stared at each other in the eyes with grave expressions. 

"I can't just accept it!" Zuko almost yelled. 

"You have to," Aang said frowning. 

Katara returned and brought the water back to Zuko's neck. He was tempted to slap it away but didn't, instead scrunching his eyes shut in defiance. "If you weren't exactly who you are, we wouldn't be here today and the avatar would never learn fire bending and the world would never recover its balance," Katara said to Zuko while swirling the water gently around his chakra, trying to encourage the chi to start moving. 

Zuko wanted to argue, but Katara continued. "If you weren't the Fire Lord's son, Iroh wouldn't be your uncle and you probably wouldn't have known him and loved him like you do." Zuko conceded that uncle Iroh was the one good thing about his family, and Katara felt the chi stir. She kept encouraging it with the water, while continuing to speak. "It's okay to wish your life was different; that's pretty normal. I'm sure there are lots of young Fire Nation men who wish they were a prince. They don't know the burdens you bear, just like you don't know about the difficulties of other kinds of life. It's okay to fantasise, but we all have one life -- well, except the avatar" she added with a grin, feeling his chi moving around more and more in the sound chakra, "and we just have to make the best of it." 

Zuko sighed. 

"You're doing fine," Katara added a final note and felt the sound chakra in Zuko's throat open. 

Zuko opened his eyes and sighed. 

Aang nodded. "Two more to go." 

Zuko nodded.

"The sixth one is the light chakra, it is located in the forehead." Aang started. Katara directed the water to Zuko's head. "It deals with insight, and is blocked by illusion. The greatest illusion in this world is the illusion of separation," Aang repeated Guru Pathik's words verbatim -- they had made such a powerful impression on him, he remembered them exactly. He continued with his own words: "We think things are separate, but they are the same. The four nations are all one people, the four elements are all the same energy." Aang was getting excited, and didn't notice that he was leaving Katara and Zuko behind. They exchanged a glance, unsure of how to proceed. 

"Okay, so I... will let the... illusion of nations and elements flow down the stream," Zuko attempted, but he couldn't really grasp what it all meant. 

Aang was pulled back to reality seeing Zuko fumbling with the concepts. He looked over to Katara, who shrugged her shoulders and pulled the "iunno" -face. 

"...fire and water are the same..." Zuko kept trying. Katara couldn't feel anything in particular going on in Zuko's chakra. She returned her water to the waterskin by her side and looked at Aang. Zuko opened his eyes and looked too. 

"I don't know if this chakra will work. It sounds a little... theoretical." She said, looking from Aang to Zuko and back. 

Nobody really knew what to say. 

"Umm, so what's the last chakra?" Zuko asked.

"It's the thought chakra at the very top of your head. It deals with pure cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachments. Opening the thought chakra makes it possible to go in and out of the avatar state at will and to be in total control of it," Aang explained.

Zuko and Katara looked at him bamboozled, then at each other.

"Yeah we're done," Zuko said and got up. Aang was dumbfounded, but the look on Katara's face also communicating that Zuko's chakra exercises were finished, convinced him that it really was all that was needed. "Thank you so much, to both of you." Zuko said and smiled to Katara. Aang felt a sting in his heart, and remembered how he couldn't open his thought chakra because of Katara. 

"Let's see how this chi flows now!" Zuko said, interrupting Aang's sinking thoughts. "Fire bending practice, right now!" He barked at Aang, who stood up straight, saluted the firebending master and they both ran out to the courtyard.


End file.
